The present application is directed to monitoring eye movements to determine a subject's level of fatigue and/or mental workload. In particular, the present application is directed to analyzing microsaccade peak velocity relative to a baseline value to measure a subject's level of fatigue and/or mental workload with respect to time on a task or complexity of a task.
Air traffic control (ATC) operators perform demanding visual search tasks, in which the consequences of impaired performance due to mental fatigue and/or cognitive overload are severe. In particular, decreased attentional levels can cause operators to misread or ignore incoming information, which compromises safety and job performance. Numerous studies have focused on assessing and/or improving ATC work conditions, and regulations have been set to increase staff numbers and decrease work hours, but fatigue-related incidents continue to occur. Thus, there is a great need to monitor mental state in real-time in complex systems such as ATC towers, where the combination of long duty periods, insufficient sleep, monotonous tasks, and high stress leads to physical and mental operator fatigue.